Printing-press



UNITED sTa'rEs :PATENT oEEroE.

CHARLES W. HAWKES, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

PRINTING-PRESS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 9,259, dated September 14, 1852.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. I-IAwKEs, of Boston, in the county ofSuffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and usefulImprovements in- Printing- Presses; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and eXact description of the constructionand operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings,making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a perspectiveview, Fig. 2 is a longitudinal elevation, Fig. 3 is a View of the backside of the platen, Fig. t is a View of the under side of the uppernipper jaw, Fig. 5 is a side view of the upper nip er jaw on the nipperrod) with the trip anc spiral spring attached, Fig. 6 is a. side view ofthe lower nipper aw with the adjustable spring and rod attached, Fig. 7is a plan of the lower nipper jaw, Fig. 8 is a view of the back end ofthe lower nipper jaw, Fig. 9 is a section of the platen with the nippersattached thereto.

The same letters refer to like parts in all the figures.

To construct this machine a substantial frame A, A, is formed of asuitable capacity to contain the required machinery as shown in Figs. 1and 2. In the upper part of the frame, there is a large girt or back barB which supports the form bed C, and directly in front of the bed, theform or type D, is placed slightly inclining forward. Before the formthere is a platen E, made to turn up and down on pins at F. Directlyback of the form bed there is a rocker shaft Gr, made to turn in boxeson the frame at I-I, and an outside rocker arm I, on each end of thesaid shaft, which swings back and forth outside of the frame. Ateitherside of the frame there is a connecting rod J, one end of each rodis attached to the lower end of each outside arm by a pin at K, and theother ends are attached to the platen by a projecting stud L, on eitherside. On the rocker shaft of the said lever near the center of itslength, which rolls on a cam directly beneath it. Below this lever thereis a revolving shaft T, with journals fitted to turn in boxes on theframe at U, and on the said shaft between its journals there is a cam V,directly under the roller. When the revolving shaft is set in motion,the cam .working against the roller throws the lever up, and turns therocker shaft partly around, thereby swinging the platen up to the formand back again, at every revolution of the revolving shaft. A rockershaft backr of the bed operated by a cam to swing the platen up anddown, has a very great advantage over a revolving shaft, as it gives amuch longer space of time to dwell on the impression. By thisarrangement the platen can be made to rest, when down, a sufficientlength of time to lay on sheet of paper and to dwell on the impressionany length of time required.

Having thus fully described the operation of the platen, I will nowproceed to describe the operation of the nippers for holding the sheet.

In Figs. 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6, near the lower edge of the platen there is anipper rod a, with each end fitted to turn in th-e legs of the platen atb, and near one end a trip c, is made fast to the rod, with a spiralspring d, acting against it. The nippers are composed of two jaws viz.the upper nipper jaw e, and the lower nipper jaw f, and fitted to slideback and forth on the nipper rod, and secured in any required positionby means of a set screw g, in the hu of the upper nipper jaw. The lowernipper jaw is fitted loosely to the nipper rod, and has a short leg h,projecting downward as shown more clearly in Figs. 2, 6 and 9. In Figs.2, 3, 6 and 9, there is a long adjustable spring i, with an ear turnedout at each end to receive a small rod j, for the leg of the, lowernipper jaw to rest against. rIhe rod j, hangs in the ears of theadjustable spring and runs parallel to the nipper rod, (see Fig. 3), theuse of this rod is to bear against the leg of the lower nipper jaw andthereby hold the nippers up a short distance from the platen. In Figs. 3and 9, the adjustable spring z', is attached to the under side of theplaten by a bolt c, near the center of its length. There is a set screwZ, under each end of the adjustable spring for the purpose of settingthe ends of the said spring, to-

gether with the rod j, in the required position. In Fig. 9, the hub ofthe lower nipper jaw has a projecting leg h, which rests on the rod j,for the purpose of holding the nippers up from the platen. Theadjustable spring is of sufficient power to hold the rod y', in itsrequired position and to counteract the pressure of the upper nipperjaw, consequently the rod j, bearing against the leg h, will hold thenippers up from the platen as clearly shown in Fig. 9. The use of theset screws Z, is clearly shown in Fig. 3; by turning the set screws in,the ends of t-he adjustable spring i, fall back, pulling the rod j, withthem, and as the leg it, of the nipper rests upon the said rod j, thenippers will turn up from the platen. Thus by turning the set screws Z,in or out the nip pers are elevated from the platen or depressed atpleasure and when the said nippers are set a proper distance above theplaten the adjustable spring and rod j, will hold them firmly in thatposition. In Fig. 7 is shown an offset in the lower nipper jaw,permitting the outer end to pass under the upper nipper jaw. In Fig. 4there is a groove m, cut into the under side of the hub of the uppernipper jaw. In Figs. 6, 7 and 8, there is a tongue n, projecting fromthe leg of the lower nipper jaw fitted to play loosely in the groove m,of the upper nipper jaw. The use of this tongue and groove is to preventthe nipper jaws from sliding apart, and at the same time having asufficient play to permit the jaws to open and shut freely. In Fig. 2,there is a pin 0, set in the frame for the trip to strike against whenthe platen turns down. These nippers are designed more particularly tohold the edge of the sheet free from the platen; and there can be a pairat each end ofthe sheet if required, made rights and left's. By means ofthe set screws Z, the lower nipper jaw can be raised a little above theplaten as shown in Figs. 2 and 9, and when the platen swings up, thetrip c, rises from the pin 0, and by the action of the spiral spring d,against the trip c, the upper nipper jaw e, is turned down on to thelower nipper jaw f, and thereby holds the sheet firmly between the jawsof the nippers until it is -their proper position by set screws t. Visalso a fixed arm to, on one end of this rod perfectly free from the formafter an impression is given. In Figs. l, 2 and 3, near the upper edgeof the platen there is a rod p, fitted, at each end, to turn in ears g,which project from the sides of the platen. There are one or morefingers 1', fitted to slide loosely on the said rod, and secured inThere outside of the ear; then to operate these fingers there is acoiled spring e, one end of which is made fast to the end of the arm u,by a pin at w, and the other end is wound around and made fast to a studin the frame at l/Vhen the platen swings up, the tendency of the sprmgis to turn the fingers down on to the face of the platen and hold themfirmly in that position until after the impression is given, and whenthe platen has returned nearly to its lowest position the action of thespring is reversed and the fingers again turn up from the platen. Thesefingers are designed more particularly to be used on large presses wherea very large sheet is to be printed, to hold the upper edge of the sheetfirmly to t-he platen until it is perfectly free from the form after animpression is given.

Having thus fully described the construction and operation of myimprovements, I will now point out lthe parts which I claim as myinvention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent.

1. I claim a pair of nippers so constructed as to draw the paper fromthe form by gripping the margin of the paper firmly between the jaws ofthe said nippers, and at the same time holding the paper a littledistance from the platen, as herein described and set forth.

2. I claim the adjustable sprin i, and

rod j, for holding the nippers up rom the platen as herein described.

3. I claim the fingers r, for holding the edge of the sheet incombination with the swing platen as herein set forth.

CHARLES W. HAWKES.

Witnesses:

LYMAN MASON, M. DYER, J r.

